Safety an issue at blind section of track

INFINEON RACEWAY

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, August 27, 2009

Photo: Ben Margot, AP

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** CORRECTS SPELLING OF NELSON PHILIPPE** IRL driver Will Power, of Australia, takes a practice lap in preparation for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma auto race Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Power was involved in an accident with Nelson Philippe of France, both men suffered concussions, Power was airlifted to a hospital for observation. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) less

The beauty of Infineon Raceway is its rapid turns and elevation changes. They are also its danger.

That point was brought home by an IndyCar practice crash that seriously injured two drivers last weekend. Both drivers expressed opposition Wednesday to altering the course, but they suggested that changes might need to be made to the course's safety system.

The mishap occurred Saturday morning in a practice session for Sunday's Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Nelson Philippe's car spun at the downhill exit of Turn 3A, a blind portion of the circuit. Turn 3 is a sharp left, followed quickly by 3A, a sharp right followed by an elevation drop.

Philippe's car stopped on the left side of the track, just beyond the crest of the hill. E.J. Viso tried to avoid it but clipped the front of Philippe's car with his left-rear tire. Will Power was not as fortunate and slammed into the right side of Philippe's car.

Power, speaking Wednesday from Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, said he didn't think the section of the 2.2-mile course needed to be changed. But he apparently missed the warnings that a car was stopped on the other side of the hill.

The raceway has a corner station at Turn 3A, including three people who, according to track officials, quickly turned on strobe lights, waved a yellow flag and warned crews by radio after Philippe's car stopped Saturday.

Evidently, the warnings didn't get through to Power, according to Infineon's president and general manager, Steve Page. "We'll do anything we can to avoid incidents like this," he said.

Power, who has been fitted for a back brace after fracturing two vertebrae, said he had "no chance to even react" as he came over the hill. The turn is "quite exciting because of the blind corner," he said. "It adds to drivers' skill. The downside is you can't see what's on the other side.

"When I did the track-walk before the weekend, I was worried about that corner. It is dangerous."

Tim Cindric, president of Power's Team Penske, told the Indianapolis Star that the warning lights on Power's dash, designed to flash in a full-course caution, did not come on. "He had no indication to slow down," Cindric said.

Brian Barnhart, IndyCar's president for competition, told The Chronicle the strobe lights at the turn were flashing in time and should have been obvious to all the drivers. He added that Power had a spotter in the corner, four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears. All the drivers had been reminded about the warning system on that hill at the drivers' meeting Saturday morning, Barnhart said.

Philippe, who sustained a compound fracture of his left foot and underwent a two-hour operation Saturday, flew home to Miami on Tuesday. He also has a fractured fibula in his lower right leg. He said he was unconscious for 15 minutes after the accident and remembers nothing from the crash.

The 23-year-old Frenchman said he wouldn't want the course changed. "I'm a purist," he said. "Racing needs to have that element of danger. It needs these amazing tracks to race on."

He wasn't sure flashing lights or a yellow flag is enough to alert drivers in time to avoid such a wreck, but he said, "We need to figure out a way to tell drivers that there's something there. Every driver should have a spotter on the other side of that hill."

Briefly: The Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma returns to Infineon on Aug. 22, according to the 2010 IRL schedule released Wednesday. The NHRA announced Tuesday that the 2010 Fram Autolite Nationals will be at the track July 16-18.